The present invention relates to a plate exchange apparatus for a rotary press, which automatically removes an old plate from a plate cylinder and mounts a new plate on a plate cylinder.
In a variety of rotary presses, a winding rod hole partially open to the circumferential surface of a plate cylinder and having a circular section extends in the axial direction of the plate cylinder, and a plate winding rod is fitted in the winding rod hole. To mount a plate on the circumferential surface of the plate cylinder, the leading end of the plate is inserted in the holding portion of the winding rod, and the plate cylinder is rotated by almost one revolution to wind the plate on the circumferential surface of the plate cylinder. The trailing end of the plate is held by the holding portion of the winding rod, and the plate winding rod is rotated while regulating the reverse rotation of the plate winding rod by a ratchet device or the like. To remove the plate from the plate cylinder, an operation substantially reverse to that for mounting the plate is performed.
In a conventional plate exchange apparatus of this type, however, plate exchange must be entirely performed by manual operations to necessitate much labor, thus increasing load to the operator. In addition, plate exchange requires a long period of time to prolong the preparation time, thus degrading the operation efficiency of the machine. Also, operational safety is not sufficient.